Eric Parker, known as “The Man on the Bridge,” or for those who accept the federal government’s narrative, “The Bundy Ranch Sniper,” provides a first-hand account of what happened on Saturday, 12 April 2014 when Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents ceased their roundup of Cliven Bundy’s cattle. Contrary to the position of the Government, prosecuted by US Attorneys, Parker outlines how the incident on the bridge was not, in fact, an armed assault as the Government alleges. His version of the story illuminates the watershed nature of this case as a landmark decision as it relates to Government overreach and Constitutional Rights. Everyone should be closely following the development of this case as its outcome has substantial implications for individual liberty.

The federal government’s Criminal Indictment alleges that Parker was complicit in a massive, clandestine organized conspiracy to utilize the threat of force to assault, impede, extort, and otherwise threaten federal officers into retreating from the execution of a lawful court order. In their Memorandum Supporting Pretrial Detention, the federal government alleges that Parker traveled to Nevada with the express intent to act as a gunman/sniper in Cliven Bundy’s unlawful attempt to secure his own cattle from federal roundup. This position is a strict, narrow interpretation based on a sliver of the entire breadth of facts and evidence.

Parker explains why he and two other associates traveled to Nevada on Friday, 11 April 2014. Contrary to the federal government’s claim, Parker did not take a position on the bridge to threaten the use of force to help free Cliven Bundy’s cows. According to Parker, the Sheriff had already told Bundy that the operation would cease and that the cows would be released.

“There was a rally at the stage. […] The Sheriff came and they met on the stage. […] The Sheriff told Mr. Bundy that the BLM was ceasing its operation, that they were returning his cows, his private property, and opening back up the public land to public access. […] So… we thought it was over, we thought they were done from what the Sheriff said.”

Parker, along with hundreds of others, simply proceeded to the bridge to observe the end of the entire incident. From there, Parker outlines how federal agents needlessly and recklessly escalated the situation to the point where he, and others, believing that they and protesters below could be unlawfully subjected to lethal force, took a defensive posture.

Parker touches on how the situation at the Malheur Refuge in Oregon is related to the Bundy Ranch incident. The federal government is imprisoning vocal, outspoken political dissidents for the purpose of suppressing, through fear and intimidation of prosecution, the lawful exercise of rights when that exercise stands in opposition to the prerogatives of the federal government. Convictions in this case, and for the other co-defendants, could set a dangerous precedent going forward for people who exercise Constitutionally protected rights.

Listen to Parker’s version of the events of that day, his explanation of how they relate to the Malheur Refuge incident in Oregon, his assessment of how the federal government is maneuver to seek a conviction with the maximum penalty, and what his situation means for every American going forward.

I am the supreme law of the United States. Originally comprising seven articles, I delineate the national frame of government. My first three articles entrench the doctrine of the separation of powers, whereby the federal government is divided into three branches: the legislative, consisting of the bicameral Congress; the executive, consisting of the President; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court and other federal courts. Articles Four, Five and Six entrench concepts of federalism, describing the rights and responsibilities of state governments and of the states in relationship to the federal government. Article Seven establishes the procedure subsequently used by the thirteen States to ratify it. I am regarded as the oldest written and codified constitution in force of the world.